Bend It Like Beckham

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Bend It Like Beckham
Directed by	Gurinder Chadha
Produced by	Gurinder Chadha Deepak Nayar
Written by	Gurinder Chadha Guljit Bindra Paul Mayeda Berges
Starring	Parminder Nagra Keira Knightley Jonathan Rhys-Meyers Anupam Kher
Music by	Craig Pruess
Cinematography	Jong Lin
Editing by	Justin Krish
Distributed by	Helkon SK, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release date(s)	April 11, 2002
Running time	112 min.
Country	UK, Germany, USA
Language	English, Punjabi, German, Hindi
Budget	£3,500,159 (estimated)
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Bend It Like Beckham is a British film released in 2002 and re-released in America in March, 2003, directed by Gurinder Chadha based on the screenplay she wrote with Paul Berges and Guljit Bindra. The film was a box office success and has achieved a cult-like status. It tells the tale of two young London women from different backgrounds who share an aptitude for football (soccer) and pressure from their families to conform. One is a British Indian Sikh girl who struggles against her family's orthodox mindset to fulfill her dream of playing professional football; the other is a white girl who has to combat her mother's stereotypes about athletic prowess and lesbianism. The film's title is a reference to the English footballer David Beckham and his skill at scoring from free-kicks by "bending" the ball (making it swerve as it flies through the air).

The movie was filmed in West London, specifically Hounslow (where the main characters live) and Southall, and central London, including Soho for the football store and pub, and Piccadilly Circus. Scenes were also shot in Hamburg, Germany.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Soundtrack 3 Soundtrack Album 4 Response 5 Trivia 6 External links

[edit] Plot

The film is a coming-of-age tale about 18-year-old Jesminder "Jess" Bhamra (Parminder Nagra), a Sikh girl living in the western suburbs of London, not far from Heathrow Airport. Her first-generation Punjabi immigrant parents push her hard to study to get into university and become a solicitor, and wish to arrange a marriage for her in due course. Jess instead dreams of football, inspired by one of England's most famous players, David Beckham. She displays unusual talent for the game in park matches with the local boys, running them ragged with her evasive skills.

While playing in the park Jess is spotted by Juliette "Jules" Paxton (Keira Knightley), the star player at the Hounslow Harriers, a local amateur women's football club. She happily accepts Jules's invitation to join the club, even though she knows her parents would disapprove. Jess becomes a key member of the side and Jules's best friend. She also develops a special bond with the team's coach, Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), a young man whose dreams of football stardom were shattered when he injured his knee. Meanwhile, there are rumours that a scout from an American college is looking for players for the school's women's team. The resulting situation sets up a number of culture clashes ranging from the comical to the serious, as Jess, her friends (both from the Indian community and the football club), and family, try to negotiate their way between the expectations of two cultures and their own dreams and desires.

The movie also shows that immigrant families are not unique in their adherence to tradition. Jules's mother (Juliet Stevenson), who has very conventional views of femininity, pressures her daughter to wear frilly lingerie rather than sports bras and fears that her tomboy daughter is in a lesbian relationship with Jess. Instead of the standard plot device of the unyielding father and the understanding mother, the roles are reversed with the father having the wisdom to let his daughter fulfil her dreams and the mother clinging to her ideas and traditions. In Jess's case, her father (Anupam Kher) decides to let her play in the football tournament even when it means leaving her sister's wedding early. In Jules's case, her father encourages her to play football instead of chasing boys and doing normal "girl things".

When he realises she has sneaked out to play football, Jess's father takes ten minutes to watch Jess in her game and sees just how good she really is. He is surprised to find her a fantastic player and a key member of the team, but he is not as impressed when he finds her hugging her coach. During the wedding party, Jess's father allows her to go to the final football match, saying it would be the only way to see her happy on her sister's wedding day - her joy of playing is contrasted with her sister's joy of getting married, in a montage reminiscent of The Godfather.

The American scout sees Jess and Jules at the game and offers them a place at a college in the USA with a well known and successful women's soccer program (Santa Clara University). Jules accepts straight away, but Jess does not as she knows her parents would never let her. She returns to the wedding party (which was just finishing) and tells her best Indian friend - Tony (a gay man who is infatuated with David Beckham) what has happened. Tony sees how much Jess wants to take up this opportunity, so he tells Jess's parents that he and Jess want to get married but he wants her to have a chance to go to the college of her choice first (i.e. the college in America which she has been offered a place at). Jess realises that she cannot let Tony make such a sacrifice for her, and she also wishes to stop deceiving her family, so she speaks up and asks permission to go to America.

Her father grants her permission to go, as in his youth he wanted to play cricket for England but he was unable to because the English men who were at the club he wished to play at made fun of the turban he wore and 'kicked him out like a dog'. He realises that Jess really wants to take up this opportunity and gives a speech in front of the relatives and friends there about how he was discriminated against and how he wants Jess to take up the opportunity he never had. Consequently Jess goes to America. The film concludes with family and friends assembled at the airport to bid Jess and Jules farewell. Jess and Joe, who throughout the film found themselves attracted to the other despite the restrictions of family and his position, kiss and decide to tell Jess' parents of the relationship when she comes back at Christmas. The credits roll with Joe and Jess`s father playing cricket.

[edit] Soundtrack

The soundtrack features lively music in the bhangra style, soul music including Tails from the west by the westwood asylum, songs by Victoria Beckham, Mel C, Texas and the aria Nessun Dorma, from Puccini's Turandot. It also features excerpts from the dance band Basement Jaxx, Red Alert and Do Your Thing.

[edit] Soundtrack Album

Date 2003 - Titles - Time

• Craig Pruess & Bally Sagoo Feat. Gunjan - Titles
• Texas - Inner Smile
• Malkit Singh - Jind Mahi
• Katrina Martain - Noorie
• Victoria Beckham - I Wish
• Gunjan - Kinna Sohna
• Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Tere Bin Nahin Lagda
• Melanie C - Independence Day
• Hans Raj Hans - Punjabiyan Di Shaan
• B21 - Darshan
• Bina Mistry - Hot Hot Hot
• Blondie - Atomic
• Craig Pruess & Bally Sagoo Feat. Gunjan - Hai Raba
• Tito Beltran - Nessun Dorma
• Melanie C - I turn to you

[edit] Response

The film was popular with audiences around the world, including the United States, where David Beckham was little known at the initial time of its release.

Some critics compared it to Billy Elliot ("with football instead of ballet") or felt it mined the same vein of humour as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, even though Bend It Like Beckham was released first. Critic Steve Sailer, in a mildly favourable review [1], dubbed the movie My Big Fat Sikh Heading. However it received enthusiastic reviews from influential critics with Roger Ebert calling it 'a perfect coming of age movie'.

The 9th Pyongyang Film Festival, held in North Korea in 2004, screened a dubbed and censored version of Bend It Like Beckham and the U.S.-produced South African drama Cry, The Beloved Country. Bend It Like Beckham reportedly delighted the limited audience of less than 100 that was allowed to see it. The film also won the music prize at that festival.^{[citations needed]}

[edit] Trivia

• The Sikh holy man (babaji) venerated by the protagonist's parents, and whose photograph hangs in the family living room, is Guru Nanak Dev.
• Although David Beckham and Victoria Beckham were originally scheduled to make a guest appearance at the end of the movie, they were unable to due to scheduling conflicts. Instead, stand-ins were used for their roles.
• Later on though, Victoria and David Beckham were featured in the special features, singing the song, "Hot, Hot, Hot!"
• Although Parminder Nagra plays a teenager (approximately 17 or 18) in the movie, in 2002, she was actually 27 years old. She was born in 1975.
• This movie was Keira Knightley's breakout role.
• Shaznay Lewis of girl band All Saints fame starred as Mel, the team captain. Shaz was invited to play for Arsenal Ladies as a teenager, but she never trained and only played in three matches.
• Bend It Like Beckham has been touted one of the best British comedies since Bridget Jones's Diary.^{[citation needed]}
• "Bend it like Beckham" has given way to other similar sayings, such as "Bend it like Giggs"[2][3]
• In Germany the title of "Bend It Like Beckham" is "Kick It Like Beckham", while in France the title is "Play it like Beckham".
• In the original plot, Jess and Jules were in love with each other, not with Joe.
• Due to the Sikh-Muslim relationship, a quote is included in the script as follows ("So if you get to choose, does that mean you can marry a white boy?" "Ha - white, no, black, definitely not, Muslim, enh enh!")

[edit] External links

• Official Website
• Bend It Like Beckham at the Internet Movie Database
• Yahoo! Movies page